jamieW, I don't know if you've added my 1950-1959 songs list to your spreadsheet yet, but I just wanted to let you know that I've made a minor change to it. I forgot "Wake Up Little Susie," so it's now added to my list at #72 and everything else has moved down one place.

I hope to also submit an albums list, but there are still quite a few albums I need to listen to before the end of the month.

Dan wrote:jamieW, I don't know if you've added my 1950-1959 songs list to your spreadsheet yet, but I just wanted to let you know that I've made a minor change to it. I forgot "Wake Up Little Susie," so it's now added to my list at #72 and everything else has moved down one place.

I hope to also submit an albums list, but there are still quite a few albums I need to listen to before the end of the month.

There is so much wonderful music from this period.

I hadn't added it yet, but thanks for letting me know, Dan.

I'm also glad you brought this up: Everyone's welcome to make any changes they'd like right to the deadline, but please let me know (as Dan did) because I might miss the edit.

On the subject of "Wake Up Little Susie," I always got a kick out of how the song was controversial when it came out in 1957 simply because of what the couple's lateness implied in the eyes of others. In fact, I've seen it on the infamous "banned in Boston" list from the early part of the 20th century. How times have changed!

Romain, I've been listening to a lot of songs in your list and I'm really enjoying them. I did notice, though, that you have "Death Letter" listed twice (#42 and #66). Also, Sinatra's "One For My Baby" is from 1958 and I think Little Walter's "I Got To Go" is from the '50's, as well. (We're splitting the songs into two lists: 1900-1949 and 1950-1959.) Please let me know if you have any questions.

jamieW wrote:On the subject of "Wake Up Little Susie," I always got a kick out of how the song was controversial when it came out in 1957 simply because of what the couple's lateness implied in the eyes of others. In fact, I've seen it on the infamous "banned in Boston" list from the early part of the 20th century. How times have changed!

And they probably only cuddled and fell asleep. I’m sure at least one of them regretted not having rampant sex – it would’ve made it easier to cope with the judgement that would follow.

It’s been a rainy day here in Newcastle, England. The husband is out of town on a work engagement, and because of the weather I didn’t want to go outside or meet friends. So I listened to both my 1900-1949 and 1950-1959 songs lists again. A cheeky bottle of French red wine later, I’m happy with all of my rankings, except for Édith Piaf’s “La foule”, which I’ve now moved from #60 to #27 on my 1950-1959 list (I promise that the French red wine didn’t have anything to do with it). jamieW, to not get too annoying, I will probably wait until the end of the month to notify you of other changes in my lists.

Nice to see nicolas making an appearance on the forum today. I should let him know that La marine, Dans mon île, Milord, Le déserteur, Fais-moi mal, Johnny, John B. Sail, Better Day, My Babe, When Did You Leave Heaven, and Walking by Myself probably wouldn’t have made my list if it wasn’t for him (and Romain for the French ones).

jamieW wrote:
Romain, I've been listening to a lot of songs in your list and I'm really enjoying them. I did notice, though, that you have "Death Letter" listed twice (#42 and #66). Also, Sinatra's "One For My Baby" is from 1958 and I think Little Walter's "I Got To Go" is from the '50's, as well. (We're splitting the songs into two lists: 1900-1949 and 1950-1959.) Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for checkin Jamie (and for the comment). For Son House, it's "Son House - The Pony Blues" for the second (a bad copy/paste, sorry).
And the two others are mistake, I chose two other songs.

1. ELVIS PRESLEY "Elvis Presley" (1956, #19 on my all-time list)
The king is gone but it's not forgotten. The first album by Elvis Presley balanced from the leftovers of the mythical sessions at Memphis Sun Studios with a roots sound, sometimes even hillybilly (but including an ethereal and otherworldly take on the standard "Blue Moon") to the more urban, urgent, modern, arrogant and wild Rock & Roll sound of the first sessions for RCA in Nashville and New York, with vibrant reworkings of Perkins and Penniman songs. Long live the King. The King of Rock & Roll.
2. MILES DAVIS "Kind of Blue" (1959, #45)
I'm not quite sure about what's Modal Jazz, but I really don't need to know it to enjoy "Kind of Blue". An awesome line-up including Bill Evans and John Coltrane (no less!) improvised at the very moment the best album on Jazz history (Miles Davis laid out the themes just before the session), with astonishing performances of an extraordinary depth and a cool atmosphere.
3. FRANK SINATRA "In the Wee Small Hours" (1955, #50)
The first concept album? Maybe not, but Sinatra's thorny love affair with Ava Gardner resulted in a cohesive album filled with heartache and despair. Since Sinatra was not a songwriter, the cohesiveness relies in an impeccable collection of standards, in soft and delicate late-night musical arrangements (that celesta!) and, of course, in that desolate and heartbreaking Voice.
4. CHET BAKER "Chet Baker Sings" (1954, #65)
As indispensable for a romantic rendez-vous as candlelights or champagne. A music that floats in the air as light as a feather and creates an atmosphere capable of melting the ice of the coldest heart, a voice so near, so natural, so vulnerable and so intimate whispering sad love songs into your lover's ear. But be careful: she could fall in love with Chet instead of you.
5. LOTTE LENYA "Lotte Lenya singt Kurt Weill" (1955, #95)
More that twenty years after her exile, Lotte came back to Berlin to find it in a period of recovery but with the wounds still open. Aptly she took up again where she left, giving new life to the Kurt Weill songs from the old Weimar days, backing her fragile but expressive voice with out-of-tune pianos ("Bilbao Song") or amateur-sounding banjo and harmonium ("Moritat").
6. WOODY GUTHRIE "Dust Bowl Ballads" (1940, #100)
This could be (maybe after Leadbelly's "Negro Sinful Songs" from 1939) the very first concept album, way before the album era (it was originally released as two box-sets with three 78 rpm records). If you dare to enter the austere Folk world of Guthrie (political lyrics, traditional melodies and spare backing) you'll get a rewarding experience even if you end covered with dust.
7. HANK WILLIAMS "Moanin' the Blues" (1952, #108)
I'm aware that it's really a compilation but it could work as a concept album, as in fact every one of the first Hank Williams albums: "Sings" set (the woods) on fire while "Memorial" was his testament, "Luke the Drifter" showed his spiritual side while "Ramblin' Man" his wild side. In "Moanin' the Blues" he portrayed with sharp precision despair, loneliness and... blues.
8. BILLIE HOLIDAY with RAY ELLIS and HIS ORCHESTRA "Lady in Satin" (1958, #115)
The sound of desolation. Billie Holiday tried to dress in satin for one of her last recordings, wrapping herself in a lush orchestral backing. Nice try, but it was in vain. Not even a thousand violins could have sweetened her bitter moan, not even a thousand layers of paint could have disguised the cracks in her voice, the scars of a whole life. The end of a love affair.
9. ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST "West Side Story" (1957, #124)
Never before and after (with maybe the exceptions of Gershwin and Weill) high and low culture were so close. But not yuxtaposed. The classical background of Bernstein fused so tightly with jazz, latin and musical that a dodecaphonic serie with a swing beat (as we can hear in "Cool") not only does not sound out of place but fresh and new. I like to live in America.
10. DUKE ELLINGTON & HIS ORCHESTRA "Masterpieces by Ellington" (1951, #125)
Technology influences art. Every technological advance changes the way of creating music and, as the mic allowed the singers to whisper directly into you ear, the long play albums allowed musicians to express themselves out of the jail of the 3 minutes single. And Duke Ellington sounded in his second album (46 minutes, 4 songs) like a just released prisoner running free.
11. GEORGES BRASSENS "Chante les chansons poétiques (…et souvent gaillardes)" (1953, #147)
Chanson. Inside this heterogeneous style (with the melodramatic Brel, the provocateur Gainsbourg and the poetic Ferré), Brassens played the sarcastic ("Le gorille"), combative ("La mauvaise réputation"), humorous ("Hécatombe") but also tender ("Le parapluie").
12. NINA SIMONE "Little Girl Blue / Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club" (1958, #148)
Simone's discographical debut shows "an artist who arrives fully formed " (Thom Jurek for AMG). Recorded with a spare format of Jazz trio, this great album showcases the versatility of Nina, her Blues/Gospel/Jazz roots but also her Classical training.
13. THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET "Time Out" (1959, #173)
Sophisti-Jazz. It's amazing to know that an album designed to experiment with odd time signatures (you can listen here 9/8, 5/4, 6/4, 3/4 and only occasionally 4/4) ended being one of the most sold albums in the history of Jazz. Cool, really cool.
14. CHUCK BERRY "Chuck Berry Is on Top" (1959, #175)
Pure history of Rock 'n' Roll. In only 4 years ("Berry Is on Top" was released in July of 1959 exactly four years after the release of "Maybellene") Berry had released enough genre-defining hymns to deserve a prominent place in the Rock 'n' Roll pantheon.
15. THE CRICKETS "The "Chirping" Crickets" (1957, #219)
Forever young. Sadly the premature death of Buddy Holly hasn't allowed us to be witnesses of his evolution (probably he would have been relevant well into the 1960s) but let us a frozen image of when the Rock 'n' Roll was fresh and new. And young. Forever.
16. CHARLIE PARKER & DIZZY GILLESPIE "Bird and Diz" (1952, #242)
Charlie 'Bird' Parker and Dizzy 'Diz' Gillespie (plus Thelonious Monk on piano and Buddy Rich on drums) on their prime, a time when Be Bop didn't need to have long improvisations to develop all its richness. 8 songs, 25 minutes of pure brilliance.

nicolas wrote:Hi, I might have time to post a list or two before the 25th but in case I fail to, please add my old lists because they won't change much anyway. Thanks ! Looking forward to seeing the results !

Great to hear from you, Nicolas! For now, the deadline is the 31st, not the 25th, so you have more time than you thought. (And I'm perfectly willing to extend the deadline should anyone ask.) If you don't have time to submit new lists, though, I will be happy to include your previous lists.

I still haven't decided if I should include all of the old lists. The more lists that are submitted, the less I think it is necessary. But one thing I'll definitely do is include any old lists if requested.

You are correct. Thanks. I have shifted everything after it up a spot and added This Land Is Your Land at the end. For the '50s, it's borderline to make my top 150, and I'm not even sure 101-150 will count, so I will leave that list as is.

Well, I thought everything was going a little too smoothly. Listyguy brings up an interesting conundrum. Are we including "This Land Is Your Land" in the 1900-1949 portion or the 1950's portion? Last time, it was included in the 1900-1949 list, and Honorio (who always does great research) included this explanation:

Written by Woody Guthrie (lyrics) in 1940 based on a previous melody (according to Wikipedia ""Oh, My Loving Brother", a Baptist gospel hymn that had been recorded by the Carter Family as "When the World's On Fire"").
Recorded by Woody Guthrie on April 25, 1944 recorded and produced by Moses Asch. There was a previous recording from March 1944 with an additional verse more overtly political, not released till 1997.
There is controversy about the first release, it seems that it was released as a single in 1947 by Asch Records but it can't be found on any of the 78 rpm Asch Records singles discography on the web. Probably the first proper release was in 1951 as part of the 10" compilation LP Songs to Grow On, Vol. 3: American Work Songs

Thoughts, anyone? As it stands right now, Listyguy has it as 1944 and Bonnielaurel has it as 1951...

jamieW wrote:Well, I thought everything was going a little too smoothly. Listyguy brings up an interesting conundrum. Are we including "This Land Is Your Land" in the 1900-1949 portion or the 1950's portion? Last time, it was included in the 1900-1949 list, and Honorio (who always does great research) included this explanation:

Written by Woody Guthrie (lyrics) in 1940 based on a previous melody (according to Wikipedia ""Oh, My Loving Brother", a Baptist gospel hymn that had been recorded by the Carter Family as "When the World's On Fire"").
Recorded by Woody Guthrie on April 25, 1944 recorded and produced by Moses Asch. There was a previous recording from March 1944 with an additional verse more overtly political, not released till 1997.
There is controversy about the first release, it seems that it was released as a single in 1947 by Asch Records but it can't be found on any of the 78 rpm Asch Records singles discography on the web. Probably the first proper release was in 1951 as part of the 10" compilation LP Songs to Grow On, Vol. 3: American Work Songs

Thoughts, anyone? As it stands right now, Listyguy has it as 1944 and Bonnielaurel has it as 1951...

As you mentioned, Honorio's research is top notch, so I'm inclined to go with the 40's. I put 1944 as the year because that's when it was recorded and I couldn't find any concrete information on when it was first released.

This reminds me of the notorious debates over the release year of "For What It's Worth" for the old 60's poll.

jamieW wrote:Well, I thought everything was going a little too smoothly. Listyguy brings up an interesting conundrum. Are we including "This Land Is Your Land" in the 1900-1949 portion or the 1950's portion? Last time, it was included in the 1900-1949 list, and Honorio (who always does great research) included this explanation:

Written by Woody Guthrie (lyrics) in 1940 based on a previous melody (according to Wikipedia ""Oh, My Loving Brother", a Baptist gospel hymn that had been recorded by the Carter Family as "When the World's On Fire"").
Recorded by Woody Guthrie on April 25, 1944 recorded and produced by Moses Asch. There was a previous recording from March 1944 with an additional verse more overtly political, not released till 1997.
There is controversy about the first release, it seems that it was released as a single in 1947 by Asch Records but it can't be found on any of the 78 rpm Asch Records singles discography on the web. Probably the first proper release was in 1951 as part of the 10" compilation LP Songs to Grow On, Vol. 3: American Work Songs

Thoughts, anyone? As it stands right now, Listyguy has it as 1944 and Bonnielaurel has it as 1951...

As you mentioned, Honorio's research is top notch, so I'm inclined to go with the 40's. I put 1944 as the year because that's when it was recorded and I couldn't find any concrete information on when it was first released.

This reminds me of the notorious debates over the release year of "For What It's Worth" for the old 60's poll.

I tend to agree (especially since it was considered a '40's song last time and it appears that it was likely available in some form by 1947).

Bonnielaurel, would you mind moving "This Land Is Your Land" to your 1900-1949 song list to avoid vote-splitting? I will check to see if anyone else has included it in the '50's poll, as well...

Dexter wrote:How about Édith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien"? I think one AMer listed it in the 50's poll? I think it was released in 1960.

I'm seeing the same thing - both RYM and Discogs have it as 1960. Fortunately, sonofsamiam (I think that's whose list you were referring to) has additional songs, so everything can easily be moved up a notch.

Sonofsamiam, if you feel it is 1959, please let me know. As I've said, I'm not going to be really strict about this - if someone has a source that says 1959, that's good enough for me. The only reason I was concerned about "This Land Is Your Land" is that it would cause vote-splitting. I'm not nearly as worried about 1959/1960 songs.

Also, I wanted to let everyone know that, due to an especially busy couple of weeks ahead, I am moving the deadline from October 31st to the end of the day on Saturday, November 5th. I just want to make sure I have time to double-check everything (not to mention to complete my own lists!) before sending the spreadsheet along to DaveC. If anyone needs extra time, please let me know. I would like to have everything done on my end by November 11th, when things get even busier for me, but I would never slam the door on anyone who would like to submit a list.

Hi, luney6. Could you post the performance/recording year for these albums? For the albums, we're only including albums that were released before 1960, so certain performances may not be eligible. I apologize if I didn't post this in a place that is easy to find. (I've made so many rules and created so many threads devoted to this poll that I can't remember when/where I said what.)

Mindrocker wrote:
Okay, I'm kinda done with the old and ancient stuff. Looking forward to the 2000s poll.

Concur with JamieW & Brad; Very glad to see you posting these lists Mindrocker.

I also would like us to have a 2000s poll next year. I will put my hand up to run it - using the same system as the 60's poll - unless there are any objections, or anyone else volunteers. I know that some folk are bored with these polls, but there has always been good participation in the decade polls and the 2000s are surely well remembered by almost everyone. BleuPanda's Music of the Year matches will serve as excellent amuse-bouche in the lead up.

NB I'm quietly hoping that Gillingham will post some lists to boost the great Blues artists pre 1960.

DaveC wrote:
I also would like us to have a 2000s poll next year. I will put my hand up to run it - using the same system as the 60's poll - unless there are any objections, or anyone else volunteers. I know that some folk are bored with these polls, but there has always been good participation in the decade polls and the 2000s are surely well remembered by almost everyone. BleuPanda's Music of the Year matches will serve as excellent amuse-bouche in the lead up.

I concur. The 00's poll is the only one that hasn't been run twice, and I would love to see it happen next year.